A nature photographer had a brush with a “very venomous” sea snake which appeared in the mud he was lying in while photographing mudskippers.

Nick Volpe’s hysterical reaction to the black-ringed mangrove snake slithering behind him is justified given that a bite would have been extremely nasty.

“Whilst we were deep in mud photographing mudskippers, I noticed a shrimp goby jump in front of me (initial reaction) before realizing it was being followed by a venomous black-ringed mangrove snake,” Volpe, who is from Australia, writes on social media.

“These snakes are actually a type of sea snake and feed on gobies in mangrove-lined creeks! Best surprise ever!”

In an email exchange, PetaPixel asked Volpe what would have happened if the sea snake had bitten him.

“Not likely, sea snakes are fairly reluctant to bite,” Volpe says. “They are very venomous though so it wouldn’t have been the prettiest situation if I did get bitten, would have had to go straight to hospital.”

A number of social media users were amazed at how depsite rolling around in thick mud, Volpe managed to keep his Canon R5 dry, “It’s just pure determination,” says Volpe.

According to Yahoo News Australia, 26-year-old Volpe is originally from Darwin but moved to Melbourne five years ago and was in the East Point Reserve when the sea snake incident happened.

The video was captured by his partner Lucyna Kania and has racked up hundreds of thousands of views across social media.

“It all happened pretty quickly and it was a bit of a shock, but we were so excited because it was the first one we’d ever seen of that species,” says Volpe, who studied environmental science.

“That snake is usually found in estuaries or rivers where crocodiles are found, and one you don’t get to often see. So to see one up close and fairly safely, we were pretty happy about that. It’s an amazing opportunity to see it, and the best surprise ever.”

More of Volpe’s work can be found on his website, Instagram, X, and Facebook.

Image credits: Photographs by Nick Volpe

Watch video: Wonderful windmills

Landscape is a fantastic genre of photography that really allows you to take your time, grow your craft, experiment with camera settings, and get out into great outdoors.

It can be difficult to find that perfect focal point to anchor your landscape shot. Luckily in the UK, we have no shortage of windmills, so I headed out to challenge myself to take a variety of windmill landscapes, such as the stunning Horsey Windpump and its brilliant reflection. Horsey is one of the biggest windpumps in Norfolk. Type ‘windmill’ into Google Maps to find some windmills close to you.

In this project you’ll discover tips and tricks for composing your landscapes, slowing down the shutter speed, experimenting with the depth of field, and expanding the dynamic range. You’ll also see how to edit your shots to specifically target a windmill and make sure it steals the show in your landscape photos… 

1. Shutter speed

Your shutter speed determines how long the camera’s shutter stays open to expose the digital sensor to light. With fast shutter speeds, your scene will be frozen still – but slowing the shutter speed down will help to smooth out the ripples in the water and blur moving clouds for a dream‑like, painterly quality. 

Shooting at dusk or dawn, when the light levels are more gentle, will enable you to shoot longer exposures, though you can shoot for even longer with an ND (neutral-density) filter such as a 3-, 6-, 10- or even 15-stop ND.

A top tip is to set up on a tripod and use the electronic level on your Canon camera to ensure the horizon is perfectly straight: this saves you fixing it in post.

2. Compose and focus

We often have plenty of time to set up while shooting landscapes. It’s almost always worth setting up on a tripod, so you can really take your time to nail down the composition and focus. When it comes to framing up, a simple trick to improve the composition is to use the rule of thirds, applying a grid like the one here. Place your horizon on one of the lines, then your subject, like our windmill, on two of the intersecting points.

It’s also worth looking for foreground interest that you can include in your shots to add depth. Make sure you focus on the windmill so it’s pin-sharp. Use a middle aperture value like f/11 or f/16 so that the scene has a deep zone of focus, or shoot wide-open to blur the foreground.

3. Expand your dynamic range

It can be tricky to expose for landscape scenes, especially in high-contrast situations such as at sunrise or sunset. One option is to try an High Dynamic Range image, also called an HDR for short. This is where you frame up on a tripod and lock off your focus, then shoot a series of pictures in quick succession at different exposure values. You’ll then have a batch of shots, both over- and underexposed, which you can merge together in Photoshop CC to broaden the highlight and shadow detail within a single image.

Use the Auto Bracketing feature on your Canon EOS to simplify taking your group of images; then open the RAW files into Camera Raw, select them, right-click and choose Merge to HDR.

4. Targeted edits

Windmills often have a white top that may easily burn out and clip, resulting in a loss of detail. Your best bet is to shoot in the RAW format, so that you have more exposure information to play with, then bring that RAW file in Photoshop’s Camera Raw or Lightroom Classic CC. Now you can paint over the windmill with the Adjustment Brush to select it, then edit this specific part of your photo. Tick the Overlay box so that you can clearly see where you’ve painted while working with the Adjustment Brush. If the highlight detail is starting to burn out, you can reduce Exposure, Highlights and Whites. You may also want to increase settings like Clarity, Sharpness and Contrast to really help your windmill pop out from the landscape.

If you’re serious about scenery, take a look at the best cameras for landscape photography along with the best lenses for landscapes.

Not even a week ago, Alessia Glaviano – Head of Global PhotoVogue – a guest on our Spigola podcast, reminded us that it no longer matters whether you shoot with a camera or a smartphone. What matters is the intention behind the shot, not the means. We pondered deeply on this statement, and although there was initially some skepticism, we concluded that to take a true stance on the matter, we had to try it ourselves: capturing moments solely with a smartphone, but with the same attitude we would have had with a professional camera. Xiaomi provided us with the opportunity and the means.

Almost by chance, Xiaomi presented us with a challenge: to visit a distant place and attempt to capture its uniqueness using the brand-new Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G. And so began our journey, short but very intense, in Bangkok.

All the promises of this new device – which, along with four others, forms the new Redmi Note 13 Series, further enriching the brand’s Redmi Note lineup – were substantial. Starting from the battery, rechargeable to 100% in just 19 minutes with a lasting capacity of days (not hours), and of course, the camera system consisting of 3 cameras, including a main 200 MP camera, an ultra-wide-angle camera, and a macro camera.

We decided to put Xiaomi to the test in every moment spent in the Thai capital. The first stop was at the Royal Palace and the Wat Pho temple, where the goal was to capture the colors of the mosaics and decorations.

Being one of the most touristy places in the city, we encountered many people who, like us, were fascinated by the architecture of these sacred places. The Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G came to our aid in this moment as well. The smartphone is equipped with AI-based editing tools that, among other things, allow us to remove people who accidentally end up in our shots. You know those photos you see on Instagram of tourist spots always empty? Now you can have them too, effortlessly!

But a city is not only visited during the day; often, it comes to life at night, illuminated by a myriad of different lights. In our case, the lights were those of the legendary tuk-tuks, indispensable in a trip to Bangkok. In this case, the challenge was formidable: darkness, colored lights, movement. All the ingredients for a challenging shot were present.

Not content with just the shot, we continued to play with AI tools and added a bit more movement, some stars, many stars.

When traveling, we know very well that we are not only captivated by architecture, landscape, and glimpses, but we also focus on the faces we encounter on the streets. However, we often don’t have much time to photograph them, sometimes because they move, other times because we are the ones on the move. That’s exactly what happened to us in the characteristic Thai markets, first and foremost the Floating Market.

Reviewing the photos on the return flight and at home with friends was like reliving the journey once again, leaving no detail behind.

In Bangkok, on the occasion of the launch of the new Redmi Note 13 Series, the brand also introduced the brand-new Redmi Watch 4 and Redmi Buds 5 Pro. Visit Xiaomi’s website to discover all the features of these devices.

Photos shot on Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G

Color management is a critical skill that can significantly impact the final outcome of an image. Mastering this aspect of photography is especially important when dealing with colors that subtly influence a photo’s mood and tone, such as blue. This helpful video tutorial will show you how to carefully manage the blue hues in your photos to produce a more polished final product.

Coming to you from Omar Gonzalez Photography, this informative video addresses a common but often overlooked issue in color photography: the overbearing presence of blue. The narrator showcases various examples where blue, despite its natural and unobtrusive nature, can become distracting in an image. This draws attention to how even subtle elements can significantly affect a photograph’s overall impact. 

Through a series of image edits, Gonzalez demonstrates how to manipulate the blue channel in post-processing to balance the image’s color palette effectively. This technique is especially useful in scenarios where blue tones overshadow other important elements in a photograph. Even nuanced post-processing can enhance the realism and aesthetic appeal of a photograph, and the more you work on developing that eye for subtle details, the more creative control you will find you are able to take over your shots. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Gonzalez.